what's your bike oogling history?

[buddybikes]

Put this in the peugeot thread but thought it deserved over here.

1969 - age 12 1/2

Christmas of 1969 at my father brought me to the bike shop to get a "real bike" (my money), for 82.00 I bought a Flandria. For 7 more dollars could of bought a UO8 but declined. In the window there was a PX10 that I still remember, it was 175.00, at 12 years old I knew the "good bikes". Remember at age 15 in Boston (anyone remember the bi-ex?) there was an Italvegia (sp) full campy for 600.00 I was dreaming of. Looking forward, it was good chance that I bought that Flandria, when I was 16, I met the importer from Belgium, mine was an odd French one so he took to looking at it. 15 min later I got a job in his bike shop that he had attached to the import stuff. Got a Flandria pro in 1973 right above import cost, first gen Dura Ace, I believe the Flandia team was the first Shimano team. Rest is history, working 5 shops, got through school on it. etc.

Weird that at age 12 I had developed eye candy (those nervex lugs...)

[jlwdm]

1970 I bought the UO8 from Gregg's Greenlake in Seattle. Because of the bike boom (Eddy), there were none in stock. Basically no 10 speeds (and they were 10 speeds) available in Seattle. You put your name on a list and got one when the next boat came in. You had two color choices: white or white. It was right around $100. I thought the PX10 was only like $20 more; maybe it was more.

I had not had a bike for a number of years, but it is amazing what you can do when you are young. I went for a 100 mile ride the first day, and woke up sore the next day but still went out for 90 miles.

Jeff

[wallymann]

in high school a couple buddies had "good" bikes, one had a puch traveler another a trek 460 another a fuji del-rey and another a peugeot of some sort. this is early 80s.

i remember sitting in study-hall ogling the italian bikes in the performance catalog the peugeot buddy would bring to school. i had a particular jones for the red ciocc with chrome and campagnolo. being completely uneducated in the culture of cycling, i pronounced it "SEE-ock" and "SHAM-pag-no-lo". another of my buddies got himself a club fuji and the envy just grew and grew. i really wanted a peugeot but never had the dosh. all my buddies would bring their bikes into the locker room before track practice and i'd be green with envy.

i remember driving across town to "ten speeds, more or less" to check out their bikes and was dazzled. i remember a fully chromed/copper tinted medici in the window.

jump to HS graduation, with a pocket full of graduation cash, i was ready to make a move. i'd been doing alot of research and it was down to: club fuji, trek 460, nishiki international (those were available at the local "SL Lewis bike company" and in budget but i wasnt super stoked with any of them). went to visit "cross-country cycle and ski" on campus (doing some college reconnaissance) and stumbled across a trek 510 (http://majortaylorcycling.org/bikes/walter_trek_510.jpg) with a "full campy gruppo" and i was a goner. $469 later i was the proud owner of my first "nice bike".

heck, i finally even got myself a red ciocc (http://majortaylorcycling.org/bikes/walter_ciocc_mockba-80_orig.jpg) a few years later in college!